Sweetwater Elementary to perform “Longitudinal Installation”

“Longitudinal Installation,” created by Cortada a decade ago as part of his NSF Antarctic Artists and Writers Program residency in Antarctica, will be performed by Sweetwater Elementary School students on May 24th at 7 pm. The performance and activity is co-presented by the Reclamation Projects with the support of the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Affairs Council, the Miami-Dade County Mayor and Board of County Commissioners.

Participate by following these steps:

1. Find a group of 24 people to perform the Longitudinal Installation ritual with and engage in the performance.Click here to download instructions.

24 Global Voices

These quotes taken from newspapers across 24 time zones that talking about the impact of climate change on that individual’s life. After Xavier Cortada completed the Longitudinal Installation at the South Pole, he walked to the 0 degree longitude, the prime meridian, and walked clockwise around the pole. He stopped at each shoe to recite each of the following quotes:

0°, Spain:
“There may be a move of wineries into the Pyrenees in the future.”
— Xavier Sort, technical director of Miguel Torres Wineries.

15° E, Switzerland:
“Losses to insurers from environmental events have risen exponentially over the past 30 years, and are expected to rise even more rapidly still.”
— Pamela Heck, Insurance Industry Expert.

30° E, Zimbabwe:
“We used to be able to grow everything we want but that has all changed.”
— Matsapi Nyathi, Grandmother.

45° E, Turkey:
“We are helpless. We’re trying to rescue trapped people while also trying to evacuate flood waters that have inundated hundreds of houses.”
— Muharrem Ergul, Mayor, Beykoz district of Istanbul.

90° E, Tibet, China:
“The Sherpas of Khumbu may not know everything, but they are suffering the consequences of the people’s greed. We mountain people should be careful and take precautions. If we don’t save Khumbu today our fresh water will dry up and the problem will be impossible to solve in the future.”
— Ngawang Tenzing Jangpo, the Abbot of Tengboche monastery.

105° E, Borneo, Indonesia:
“There’s been no rain, it’s horrible. The governor’s office has instructed schools and offices to close until further notice.”
— Hidayat, government official.

120° E, Philippines:
“The disaster covered almost every corner of this province – rampaging floods, falling trees, damaged houses. It happened very rapidly and many people did not expect this because they haven’t experienced mud flows in those areas before.”
— Fernando Gonzalez, governor of Albay province.

135° E, Japan:
“It’s no exaggeration to say that Japan faces a critical situation when describing the rapid decline of marine supply in its domestic waters that is linked to seaweed loss. Tengusa (seaweed) provides food for marine species.”
— Tomohiro Takase, head of the fisheries department at the Hachijojima municipality.

150° E, Great Barrier Reef, Australia:
“In 20 years’ time, bleaching is highly likely to be annual and that will cause shallow-water corals to be in decline. We need to start working out how we can help people who rely on it for their income. It’s really quite a stunning fact.”
— Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, director of the Centre for Marine Studies at the University of Queensland.

180°, Tuvalu: “Tuvalu is the first victim of global warming.”
— Koloa Talake, former prime minister.

165° W , Niue: “Yesterday morning we woke up to a scene of so much devastation, it was just unbelievable. Cyclone Heta was just so fast, furious and ruthless.”
— Cecelia Talagi, Government Secretary.

150° W, Alaska, USA:
“We are at a crossroads. . . Is it practical to stand and fight our Mother Ocean? Or do we surrender and move?”
— Shishmaref Mayor Edith Vorderstrasse.

135° W, Yukon, Canada:
“The weather is really unpredictable and the ice freezes much later and breaks up earlier. There are more incidents of hunters falling through the ice.”
— Kik Shappa, Hunter, Griese Fiord, Canada.

120° W Nunavut, Canada:
“Our cultural heritage is at stake here. We are an adaptable people. We have over the millennium been able to adapt to incredible circumstances. But I think adaptability has its limits. If the ice is not forming, how else does one adapt to seasons that are not as they used to be when the whole environment is changing underneath our feet, literally?”
— Sheila Watt-Cloutier, president of the circumpolar conference.

105° W, Colorado, USA:
“In Colorado, climate change means less snow, less water, more wildfires, less biodiversity and less economic opportunity, as there is less water available for development.”
— Stephen Saunders, president, Rocky Mountain Climate Organization.

75° W, Peru:
“I tell my wife the day that mountain loses its snow, we will have to move out of the valley.”
— Jose Ignacio Lambarri, farmer, Urubamba Valley.

60° W, Argentina:
“The flooding has forced us to redesign routes. We thought it would be for a short period of time, but it has been almost six years.”
— Carlos Avellaneda, manager of a trucking company.

30° W, Greenland:
“They tell us that we must not eat mattak [whale blubber], but this is all we know. Eating Inughuit food makes us who we are, and anyway we have nothing else to eat!”
— Tekummeq, Town of Qaanaaq.

15° W, Maurtitania:
“We are only eating one meal a day. When there is not enough food, it is the young and the old that get fed first.”
— Fatimitu Mint Eletou, Bouchamo.

An international symposium and curated exhibit focused on the intersection of science and art.
Exhibit & Special Event on Saturday, April 22, 2017
3:30 pm -10:00 pm; Free and open to the public
Exhibit on display from April 9 – June 26, 2017

5 Actions to Stop Rising Seas was created by Xavier Cortada during April-May 2015 during an artist residency at the Rising Seas Confab 2015, Rauschenberg Studio, Captiva, Florida. In this performance, Cortada comments with irony on the weak to non-existent actions being taken to address both the causes and the imminent realities of climate disruption in a State clearly at the epicenter of potential disaster—one which has been caused by inadequate action globally on soaring levels of greenhouse gases related to human activity.

Cortada has long been involved in art that intervenes in, and/or comments upon environmental problems. He has created environmental installations (North Pole and South Pole) and direct-impact ecological art projects, in Florida, around the US, and internationally, (Taiwan, Hawaii and Holland).

The Deering Estate offers complimentary exhibit evenings, highlighting a variety of contemporary, historic, and visiting exhibitions inside the historic homes. Exhibit Evenings are free of charge and offer the public a chance to interact with artists and curators and to experience a variety of exhibit tours and talks. Exhibit Evenings are held from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm, unless otherwise noted. Exhibit on view daily, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm; Free with Estate Admission.

Paris Talks | Local ActionPolicymakers will discuss the politics of climate change at the local, national, and international level. They will also provide their perspective on what the future will bring based on what happened at the Paris Talks.

The Patricia and Phillip Frost Museum of Science (Museum Volunteers for the Environment), Deering Estates and the FIU College of Architecture + The Artswill once again join their other community partners in implementing Native Flags, Xavier Cortada’s participatory eco-art project, in Miami-Dade County Public Schools.

For six-years, every single public school in Miami-Dade has received a green flag and native tree sapling for students to plant in their schools to commemorate Earth Day.

Cortada created this project to engage people globally to help slow the polar thaw: Participants plant a native tree next to a green flag at home and ask their neighbors to do the same.

On April 22nd, 2015, special ceremonies will take place in two schools where Xavier Cortada will lead students in planting a tree and flag at their school. Students will also be provided with saplings and flags for them to plant at home